Rei
Rei is a main character within Breath of Fire III and a non-playable character in Breath of Fire IV. A thief of the Yraall Region, Rei is one of the last remaining members of the powerful Woren Tribe, a race of powerful humanoid tigers with exceptional agility and physical capabilities. Rei possesses the ability to transform into a deadly Weretiger, a vicious, powerful, though berserk version of himself; were it not for the power of the Brood, his race may have been extremely dominant. Very little is known about Rei's past, though it is highly likely he was once an orphan just like Ryu and Teepo. Appearance and Personality As a Woren, Rei's features closely resembles those of a tiger, including the long, striped tail, clawed feet, yellow hue and furry, pointy ears. He is clad in puffy orange pants, in conjunction with a dark-orange vest displaying a defined abdomen. His hair is the same shade of yellow as his skin and pointy, and he wears bandages around his hands, feet and as a bandanna. His weapon of choice are two abnormally large knives. Rei is a self-described "kid at heart" who "doesn't know when to give up". As a thief Rei is very calm, however from time to time is also capable of showing a very impulsive side of himself. He'd rather not hurt anyone, however, but will attack if he feels his friends or himself are threatened. He is very protective of his friends, especially Ryu and Teepo, and often assumes the role of "big brother", becoming vengeful and severely devastated when he believed Ryu and Teepo to have been possibly killed. When he lost to Ryu at Ogre Road, he was amazed at how powerful Ryu had become, and was relieved to know that Ryu had survived that fateful night. Unlike Teepo, he feels no need to brag or boast about any accomplishments, such as killing the Nue, and will even scold Teepo for such actions. Nevertheless, he does like getting some credit when credit it due, but he won't force it like Teepo. At a certain point in the journey, Rei started arguing with Momo every so often. The first incident was when Momo tried to stop the Black Ship with her bazooka, causing it to attack them back, getting Rei wet. Since then they have argued, or at least thrown an insult at each other, here and there. It does not, however, disrupt their teamwork, but they will take shots at each other once in a while. Role throughout the series ''Breath of Fire III At the start of the story, Rei is the caretaker and "big brother" to Teepo and later Ryu. He looks after them, teaching them how to survive. Rei and his "partners-in-crime" were largely disliked by the villagers of McNeil Village due to the constant thieving. However, when they risked their lives (forced by Bunyan) to kill the Nue, the villagers gained respect for the trio of boys. While suspicious of him, Loki tricks Rei and the others into stealing back the tax money from McNeil, this caused them to regain some of the ire from the villagers. They learned from Bunyan about McNeil being part of a crime organization, they quickly rushed home, only to discover that their tree house had been set ablaze. The three are attacked by the Horse Brothers Balio and Sunder, and ultimately scattered, though not dead. Rei vows revenge upon the syndicate that disrupted their quiet little happy life, and goes on a hunt for his attackers and those who hired them. He attacks Garr and a now-adult Ryu on Ogre Road, but is defeated and retreats to the remains of his old home. There, Ryu, after requesting to go alone, confirms his suspicions that the Weretiger was in fact Rei. Rei was both amazed and relieved to see Ryu, as well as being besides himself in shock at how powerful Ryu had become. But he still vowed to destroy the organization that attacked them and ran off before Ryu could say anything, attacking Loki along the way. After a killing spree in Syn City and killing the syndicate's leader Mikba, he joins Ryu's group once again to see if God can answer why people like him and Mikba were born with the powers that they have had in there lives. He helps Nina solve the problems at the Plant, meeting Momo and Peco for the first time. He then follows Nina to the castle in order to get a new passport, since he wasn't present when the King and Queen of Wyndia first met Ryu and the others, so they wouldn't suspect he was an ally to Ryu. However, after being forced to turn down a free meal and obtaining the passport, Rei and Nina ultimately had to flee the city when the truth was found out, by using the underground teleporter in the basement, which Honey activates. They rejoin the group and proceed on their journey. After helping free Deis and obtaining a boat from Rhapala, they attempt to use it to cross the Outer Sea, only to fail and forced to hitch a ride on the drifting Black Ship, though around this time Rei started arguing with Momo. After a long journey and defeating two Ammonites, they reach the Lost Shore. After seeing the almost zombie-like people in Kombinat, Rei has a little internal chat with himself, saying he was perfectly fine playing "highwayman" back home, but followed Ryu regardless, as he had his own questions he wanted answered by God. After reactivating the Portal Drives, he and the others learn more about the Brood and helps Garr manage his guilt for the deaths he caused during the war. After Ryu obtains the full power of the Brood, they travel across the appropriately-named Desert of Death, where later, after a battle against a Manmo, Nina suffers a heatstroke. He talks to Ryu, suggesting they use the Rakda to return to the start, but Ryu instead realizes the Rakda can save Nina more directly. He watches Ryu kill the Rakda and give its meat to Nina, much to his surprise, but also showing his belief and faith in Ryu's decision. This helps Nina stay alive long enough to reach the Oasis for proper care. After entering Station Myria, he is both shocked and relieved to see that Teepo is still alive. However, he is horrified at how Teepo has changed, and even more so when Teepo forces Ryu and the others to attack, ultimately killing Teepo. Teepo's dying words seem to fill Rei's heart with anger, as Myria was the one who turned Teepo against them, so he willingly confronted the goddess. After a long battle Myria was destroyed, Garr transformed into stone, and the remaining members barely make it out of the collapsing station with their lives. He was last seen looking over the desert sands with Ryu, Nina, and Momo, with the world's fate now in the hands of its people. Breath of Fire IV Rei, along with Teepo, makes a cameo appearance in Breath of Fire IV but has no direct connection to the storyline. Rei and Teepo sell items found at the village ruins where Ryu first obtains his Kaiser form, most notably the King Frog fishing lure, the best lure in the game. Their appearance is believed to simply be an "Easter egg". Also, Rei's name is spelled "Rey" in this game. It is unknown why the spelling is different from the previous game, but it's most possibly an English translation choice. Battle Rei is an extremely agile character, fulfilling with gusto the role of the thief/assassin for Breath of Fire 3. But though he excels in speed, he is lacking in defense, and magical powers. He has some powerful spells, but a rather low amount of Ability Points prevents him from using them to any lasting benefit in battle. His Weretiger ability, if carefully balanced with the Influence skill, however, can be employed to be great effect within combat. In terms of Masters, D'Lonzo and Meryleep are excellent choices. Both give a boost in Agility, which allows Rei almost always strike first, as well as abuse Flying Kick, which feeds off Agility. While he doesn't need her skills, especially Steal, due to already knowing Pilfer, D'Lonzo can boost his Attack and Accuracy as well as Agility, making his attacks hit hard, fast, and with pinpoint precision. While under Meryleep, only his Agility will go up, but he'll gain access to powerful Skills such as Charm, which is useful for stealing items, and Shadowalk, which can deal heavy damage and never misses, making it a brutal attack with Rei's Agility and Attack. If you want to beef up his HP and AP (which would keep him in the battle longer and make some of his damaging Spells more accessible), apprentice him under Giotto, where the stat loses are low compared to most other Masters, but only until you've gotten what you want from him, then it's suggested to drop Giotto quickly. Hachio can be useful as well, though you will lose a little Agility, but the rewarded Skills are very useful, plus all you need is a maximum of 4 Levels to gain all his Skills, so it might be worthwhile investment. Skill-wise outside of ones like Charm and Shadowalk, Triple Blow and Air Raid make good additions, as the former can deal three shots at full power for a mere 5 AP, which even he can spare, while Air Raid, combined with his high Agility, can possibly shut down an opposing monster's attack, since it'll be rare for him not to go first. Abilities Stats Battle Rei is fought only once during the course of the entire game, in the form of the '''Weretiger'. Trivia *Rei appears in Hawkeye's ending in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, as one of the five Capcom members of his new formation of the West Coast Avengers. *Rei is the only known Woren who can transform into Weretiger, as all Worens before and after lack this skill. *Not counting Shaman forms, Rei is the only Woren with a natural transformation ability. Gallery